Kylemore Abbey & Connemara National Park
Make your way to the island village of Cong, situated on the border of counties Galway and Mayo. Here, enjoy free time to stroll through the town’s charming streets, catching glimpses of the nearby Ashford Castle. Then, continue on to Kylemore Abbey, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1920 on the grounds of Kylemore Castle. Here, you’ll have time to explore the abbey’s interior and walled Victorian gardens. Then take a scenic drive through the Irish countryside to Connemara National Park, one of the country’s most beautiful and unspoiled places. Make photo stops in the Inagh Valley and Maam Cross before returning to Galway.
I’m having trouble picking a photo to show you how beautiful Connemara is. It’s heart-stoppingly, magically beautiful. Pictures will never do justice.
Drove around the Connemara National Park. So beautiful. Green with perfect reflections of the grassy hills in the lochs. We honked at sheep in the road and backed down a street to look at a baby donkey. We shopped and ate and strolled and napped.
This is a faerie tree by Killary Fjord. The locals leave offerings for the faeries on the tree.
On the way back in we drove by the coast. Our guide tells us that the best vacations are on the Aran Islands smack in the center of Galway Bay where the Atlantic sea salt sandblasts your skin to a fine, smooth finish. There are no cars allowed on the islands and the only plane belongs to the priest who uses it to travel between the three islands. It sounds perfect. I want to come back and do that.
I took a lot of pictures of thistles because they’re neat.
Or rent a summer cottage in Speidel, a little beach town outside Galway where caravans (campers) share the ocean front with low rock walls, old farm houses and cows. I might have to learn Irish Gaelic, but I think I’m game.
Tomorrow: cliffs on the other side of Galway Bay. I’ll see how close to the edge I can stand…
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